"She has no broken bones, no major muscles hit and her bleeding has stopped."

She was awarded an OBE for a lifetime's work at the medical centre in the Congo.

Ms Kells has served in the African country since 1968, working initially as a missionary nurse, and has helped train Congolese nurses in five hospitals and 30 health centres.

Maud Kells (Image: WEC International)

She also conducts bible school teaching, speaks at church services, and supervises construction projects.

She spends part of the year in the Congo and the other part at home in Cookstown.

Politicians in Northern Ireland said they were shocked to hear about the shooting.

Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for Mid-Ulster Sandra Overend said: "Only a few days ago we heard the news that Maud is to be awarded a great honour from Her Majesty the Queen and now today, this terrible news that she has been shot doing her work in the Congo is shocking.

"I am sure that I share this sadness with so many people from Cookstown and across Mid-Ulster.

"Those that know Maud will hope that her usual determination will provide her with strength to recover from this terrible incident."

Ian McCrea, a Democratic Unionist Party Assembly Member for Mid Ulster, said: "My thoughts and prayers are with Maud Kells tonight as she recovers from being shot twice in the shoulder."